Price of bitcoin falls below cost to mine

To add further misery to bitcoin enthusiasts, the act of finding or “mining” the cryptocurrency has become unprofitable as the price continues to crater.

This raises further questions about the viability of the accounting system supporting the cryptocurrency.

The volatile asset is now fetching under $3,200, off more than 84 percent from the highs seen during its “tulip mania” phase of a year ago.

At that point, in late 2017, accelerating numbers of people were spending real dollars on computers and electricity to create (or uncover the “coins,” using advanced algorithms.

As they engaged in the then-lucrative business of mining for bitcoin, these entrepreneurs were conducting the “blockchain“ transactions which in fact tell you how much is in your “wallet“ and allow trading to happen.

Without mining, this system, which has no Federal Reserve or other financial institution backing it up, would cease to function.

Bitcoin miner revenues hit $4.7 billion…